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Some victims names released in Navy Yard shooting

All 12 of the victims killed in Monday’s shooting rampage at Washington’s Navy Yard were contractors or civilians, authorities said Monday night.

Officials identified seven of those killed. They are:

Michael Arnold, 59;

Sylvia Frasier, 53;

Kathy Gaarde, 62;

John Roger Johnson, 73;

Frank Kohler, 50;

Vishnu Pandit, 61; and

Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46;

None of those killed were military personnel, authorities said.

Wounded survivors of Monday’s shooting are eligible for treatment at a U.S. military’ hospital, just as if they were soldiers wounded in war.

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced that Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, is open to them as he visited two civilian Navy workers being treated at MedStar Washington Hospital Center Monday afternoon.

Twelve victims — and the suspected shooter — died as a result of Monday morning’s rampage at the headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command, officials said. It could take another day until everyone is accounted for, the Navy secretary said Monday.

A maintenance worker who tried to warn others was among those shot, according to U.S. Navy Cmdr. Tim Jirus.

Jirus told CNN he was standing in an alley at the bottom of a fire escape supervising the evacuation of Building 197 when a worker from a nearby maintenance building approached him.

“He walked up and told me that he heard that there was a shooter in our building,” Jirus said. “And we were just standing there maybe three feet away having a conversation, and then we heard two more gunshots, and he went down and that’s when I ran.”

Jirus said he did not know the man. He was “fairly certain he is dead, because he was shot in the head.”

“I don’t feel lucky that he got hit instead of me, but I feel lucky to be here,” Jirus said.

At least one person, and possibly a second, opened fire, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray said. Police said one suspected shooter was killed.

Three other shooting victims who were flown to MedStar Washington Hospital Center are expected to survive, hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Janis Orlowski told reporters about three hours after the attack began around 8:20 a.m. Monday.

Dr. Orlowski gave more details later in the day about her patients, including a Washington Metropolitan police officer who was in surgery Monday afternoon “for gunshot wounds that “involve bones and blood vessels of lower legs.”

“He was most concerned about being able to talk to his mother and wanted to make sure he was able to speak to her before he went into surgery,” Orlowski said. Doctors could know after another day about the police officer’s chances of walking again, she said.

The two other victims at MedStar Washington Hospital Center were women, including one shot in the shoulder and the other with a head wound, Orlowski said. A helicopter plucked one of the wounded women from a roof and carried her to the hospital, she said.

“Their chances of survival are very good,” she said. The patients were all in stable condition, she said.

The woman with the shoulder wound was “in very, very good spirits,” Orlowski said. “She’s actually ordering the doctors and nurses around, and we told her we are in charge here.”

The other woman suffered a “significant wound” to her hand and head, but the bullet didn’t actually penetrate her skull, she said.

Her father rushed to the Navy Yard when he heard about the shooting, Orlowski said. He found her as paramedics were treating her on the scene, she said.

The three patients were each alert when they arrived at the hospital and they sometimes talked about the shooting, Orlowski said. The most common question was about the fate of their co-workers.

“They’re very worried about their colleagues,” she said. “It’s the only question that I’ve heard about the incident. We’ve not shared that with them.”

Mabus went to the hospital to check on the two women, who are Navy employees. “We got to meet one of the victims, a young woman and her family,” Maybus said. “She is, under the circumstances, doing very well. I also got to talk to the husband of the second victim, who is in surgery right now. But none of the injuries are expected to be life-threatening.”

Relatives of people who worked in Building 197 gathered near the Navy yard, hoping for information about their loved ones.

Jacqueline Alston said she has not heard from her husband, Ernest, who is a custodial worker there.

“Right now, I’m asking God to let me hear that voice, to let me see that man again,” Alston said. “All I know is, I’m supposed to be patient, which I am trying to hold on, being patient and understanding, and ask God what created this problem? What started this?”

Mabus said Monday that it could take 24 to 35 hours for Navy officials to account for everyone. He gave two telephone numbers people can call to check on family members who may have been at the Navy Yard. The numbers are: 202-433-6151 and 202-433-9713

2 comments

Martha

Eleanor Holmes Norton did state this was a secure facility. However, she then went on to make a re-election speech on how she has worked to improve the neighborhood and make it a better place to live.
Sorry,lady,people died! We don't need to hear you praise yourself!!!!

berry_ferry_man

…and like clockwork, the gun control debate springs up!
It's a gun control issue, alright!
Thanks to Ronald Reagan, back in the 80's, he cut off funding for the state mental hospitals (ironically after being shot himself) so he can use those funds to make missiles for the arms race with Russia and armament to sell to Iran (to release the hostages), Iraq (to fight Iran), and the Contras (to fight the "commies" in Latin America).
We need to start funding mental health facilities again! The only mental health facilities in existence today are private and financially out of reach for a lot of people that need it!
(Don't even get me started with the "qualified" staff at those places! The doctors? Forget it! They are in it for the money, and not to help people!)
Now, playing devil's advocate; there a lot of responsible gun owners out there. They are the ones who are being punished when a new gun restriction is passed!
But, I will admit, there are some out there that shouldn't as so much have a pea shooter!
Me? Yes, I am a gun owner. I have my Glock locked in a safe. And it has been in that safe for almost 5 years now. Have I thought about using it on someone? No. Not unless they break into my house!
I do plan on getting CCW training soon, in hopes I do not have to ever use it (like karate or any other martial art).
I am doing the most responsible thing any gun owner can do; putting it in a safe place and learning how to safely operate it! And despite what the fear/hate mongering media is telling you, there are many more like me, and we are not all "rednecks that wear camouflage, live in trailers, drink heavy amounts of ['merican] beer and vote Republican" ( I happen to be registered Democrat and was raised by "hippies"). Plus, I do not go and brag to my friends and coworkers about my gun….Don't ask-don't tell. No need!